Post: #1

http://msn.foxsports.com/olympics/story/...red-040112

And so it begins...the cleansing of London in anticipation of the Olympic Games this summer. It's the same playbook all cities run before a huge event that will be attended by tourists from around the world - they remove homeless and hookers. In Rio, they're doing it pre-World Cup, and will again in 2016 before they too host the Olympics. In NY, prior to political conventions we always see the homeless sweep. The hooker sweep here started during the Dinkins Administration when they started cleaning up Times Square. They simply pushed them further west (along with strip joints), towards the Hudson River where there are pretty much garages, etc. This is also a good time to deport hookers that aren't UK citizens.

Post: #2

Sickening that the homeless are swept away before such events as a way to hide the darker side of a city. Frequently they're arrested for loitering.

Here in my city for the last few years several measures to "deal with" the homeless have been undertaken - banning their homes under highway overpasses, and making it illegal to ask for money. Now the homeless sit around quietly outside sports events etc with a container and a sign.

Post: #3

In Beijing, the government basically inacted their version of imminent domain and threw people out of their homes, because they wanted the land to build the Olympic venues. In Egypt, when they discovered the Avenue of the Sphinxs, they ran under people's homes. In order to excavate, they simply kicked those folks out also. No negotiations to pay them for their property. No relocation. Just get out. NOW. It actually happened here in NY in Brooklyn, where they're building a new arena and condos, etc. for the NY Nets move from Jersey. They pulled imminent domain there too, but at least offered folks something and I think helped some with relocating. But they will get you out if they want.

The fucked up thing about the homeless situation is that they don't actually try to solve the problem. They're fine with them living on the street unless there's some kind of event they want to clean up for. Then they treat them like criminals.

Post: #4

Timoteo - Are you in London? Check out the London April meetup thread. Would be cool to get a small group together and go meet some girls.

/thread-11522.html

Post: #5

(04-03-2012 03:36 AM)DareP Wrote:  Timoteo - Are you in London? Check out the London April meetup thread. Would be cool to get a small group together and go meet some girls.

/thread-11522.html

No...I'm at home in NYC, but am hoping to come through during the Olympics but I'm not sure if I'll be able to swing it. I would definitely be all in for a sit down though, and if it happens, keep us all posted.

Post: #6

This is typical. They did the same in Vancouver. They sweeped the hood which is right beside downtown and the tourist area gastown. London will be a complete shitshow that will make the Chinese look tame.

London before these Olympics was already the most heavily video servailled City on earth. They are almost doubling the ammount of cameras, having (unarmed) drones patrol from the ground, electrical barbwire fences, surveillance submarines in the Thames, and the largest deployment of British troops since WW2. Anybody trying to go vist that place during those games is messed up. It will literally be a fortified police state.

And just remember.. Just like after the G20 in Toronto most of the security stuff stays in place. In Toronto we were able to get SOME of the cameras removed by the police balked or just sold them to University campuses.

The Olympics have turned into a boondoggle I only agree with as a means to build up infrastructure. But the costs now to so expensive. London spent 2 billion just on security. Vancouver got chastised for not spending enough lol.

Post: #7

Interesting point re: infrastructure. London will be one of the few Olympic host cities to actually take advantage of the additional infrastructure and venues that were built for the games. That's more because they already had a solid infrastructure in place to start with. Most countries, after the world leaves, get absolutely NO use out of the infrastructure. Most of it crumbles from neglect. Obviously transportation and housing that was built is used, but little else. I imagine Vancouver gets plenty of use out of the venues built for the winter games, because they engage in those kinds of activities daily anyway. Atlanta also got great use also (the Olympic stadium was converted to the Braves' new ballpark right after the games), but again, it was a city with good infrastructure to start with, and there was already a plan for post-games.

I hear you regarding police/military/security. Granted, that's a reaction to the post 9/11 world, where any event that draws that amount of people presents terrorism concerns. Then put it in a city that already was security conscious (yeah...those cameras. NY has sent law enforcement there to study and observe the CCTV system, and we have a few of those cameras throughout the city), on top of having some terrorist incidents in the past, you have the perfect storm for that police state you refer to. Hosting the games can be a blessing and a curse. NYC really tried to get them. Mayor Bloomberg laid out a plan for a new stadium (which would have been the Jets new home stadium after the games) on the West side of Manhattan. More were against the games than for them. One good thing that grew out of it was construction to extend one of our subway lines (the #7 line) further West towards the Hudson River, the first line to extend further west than 8th Avenue.

Post: #8

(04-03-2012 01:35 PM)Timoteo Wrote:  Interesting point re: infrastructure. London will be one of the few Olympic host cities to actually take advantage of the additional infrastructure and venues that were built for the games. That's more because they already had a solid infrastructure in place to start with. Most countries, after the world leaves, get absolutely NO use out of the infrastructure. Most of it crumbles from neglect. Obviously transportation and housing that was built is used, but little else. I imagine Vancouver gets plenty of use out of the venues built for the winter games, because they engage in those kinds of activities daily anyway. Atlanta also got great use also (the Olympic stadium was converted to the Braves' new ballpark right after the games), but again, it was a city with good infrastructure to start with, and there was already a plan for post-games.

I hear you regarding police/military/security. Granted, that's a reaction to the post 9/11 world, where any event that draws that amount of people presents terrorism concerns. Then put it in a city that already was security conscious (yeah...those cameras. NY has sent law enforcement there to study and observe the CCTV system, and we have a few of those cameras throughout the city), on top of having some terrorist incidents in the past, you have the perfect storm for that police state you refer to. Hosting the games can be a blessing and a curse. NYC really tried to get them. Mayor Bloomberg laid out a plan for a new stadium (which would have been the Jets new home stadium after the games) on the West side of Manhattan. More were against the games than for them. One good thing that grew out of it was construction to extend one of our subway lines (the #7 line) further West towards the Hudson River, the first line to extend further west than 8th Avenue.

I hear you for sure. As far as Vancouver goes some of the venues .. well umm are not really getting used much. The biggest flop was the village which was flipped into Condos post games and they have not sold as well as intended, the taxpayers had to bail out the developers on that one.

Atlanta was one of the most profitable games in history but it came with a price as Atlanta sold its soul to become a corporate whore. They we're easily the most corporatised games in history, evrey inch of the City was covered in ads.

I feel some Cities are to big to host the Olympics. It sounds odd to outgrow the largest sporting event on earth - but Cities such as London, Paris, Tokyo, and NYC IMO get no real benefits from the games. These are leading Cities with proper infrastructure for the most part already built. London pumped most of the cash into security to keep its frustrated population at bay lol. Most of the venues we're built already or they built temporary ones. The biggest plus for the London game is that they are re-developing a previously neglected part of town (South or West London??).

This is why IMO the NYC bid flopped. NYC taxpayers saw little benefit of hosting the games other than a big fat bill and chaotic traffic for 2-3 weeks. Contrast this to Rio which by 2016 will transform its self into a modern City with new transit and highways and buildings. The IOC knew London's oligarchs could squeeze as much money from the public purse as needed to host the games.

This will be the last hurrah for the Olympics in the "West" Western nations can't afford to put on this spectacle anymore. Imagine Obama trying to justify America spending 2-3 Billion on the Olympics when the country has been in a economic comma for a few years now. The next 4 -5 games IMO will be in 'BRICS' nations, Eastern Europe/FSU, or the Middle East. These games will be a last show of fluff and might for the old London oligarchs from The City lol.

Only western place that gets a free pass is Toronto. For my City it would justify the cost/bill because Toronto makes up about 12% of Canada's GDP but Federal policy purposely neglects the importance of Toronto and robs it of funding and taxes. Toronto for example has the worst traffic in North America and until recently did not make any significant upgrades to its rapid transit since the 60's. The Olympics in Toronto would force the Federal Govt to invest heavily in its largest City.

Post: #9

I think hospitality and service oriented businesses love the prospect of hosting the games, but no one else does. No one else really benefits. I like the idea of tons of foreign pussy flooding in...HA HA!

Post: #10

Does London have freeways and streets all over like most major American cities?

Post: #11

This kind of thing just annoys me. Back when the olympics were on in Vancouver there were cops on every corner most of the time. In whistler there were more cops than people in the village.

They shoved all of the homeless people from the downtown eastside into shelters vastly overcrowding them. I know someone working for one of the more "open" shelters and they are getting reduced funding from the government and are getting all of this shit when just a few years ago the government welcomed their way of running a shelter with open arms... sickening.

Post: #12

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/201...eyre-worth

Here's a point/counterpoint debate regarding the benefits or lack thereof for a city to host the Olympic games. Some of these points have been touched by many of you...